620 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



cetaceans, which they invari- 

 ably succeed in kiUing by 

 repeated thrusts of the sword. 

 It appears that occasionally 

 sword-fishes make a mistake, 

 and, after the fashion of Don 

 Quixote, tilt at windmills, in 

 the shape of large vessels, 

 under the impression that 

 the)' arc whales. But this 

 most grave error of judgment 

 brings with it a heavy penalty, 

 in that, having no power to 

 make effective backward move- 

 ments, the sword remains 

 fixed, and is eventually broken off in the struggle for freedom. Frank Buckland reminds us 

 that in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, is a section of the bow of 

 a whaler impaled b}' one of these swords. That portion of the sword which remains is I foot 

 long and 5 inches in circumference. " At one single blow," he writes, " the fish had plunged 

 his sword through, and completeh' transfi.xed 13^ inches of solid timber. The sword had of 

 course broken oft' and pre\-ented a dangerous leak in the ship." In the British Museum is 

 a second specimen of a ship's side in which the sword of a sword-fish is fixed. 



Phtia h A. S. Riidland &^ Sim 



SWORD-FISH 



TAe huge hack-fin is said to he often used as a sail zvhen the fish is foaling near the surjaee of 



the -zi-ater 



CHAPTER IV 



HAIR-TAILS, HORSE-MACKERELS, SEA-BATS, DORIES, MACKERELS, SUCKING- 

 FISHES, ir EATERS, FROG-FISHES, ANGLER-FISHES, BULL-HEADS, AND 

 GURNARDS 



BY W, P. PVCRAFT, A. L. S., F. Z .S. 



OF the family of I-L\IR-T.\ILS perhaps the most important members are the Sc.\BBARD- or 

 Frost-fish and the Snoek. The first is common in the Mediterranean and the 

 warmer parts of the Atlantic, extending northwards to the south coast of England, 

 where it occurs at rare intervals. It is also known in New Zealand, where it is called 

 the Frost-fish, and furthermore is regarded as one of the most delicious fish of the colony, its 

 flesh being fine, tender, and of delicate fla\our. On this account it is much in demand, but 

 the suppl\' is very uncertain. The conditions of capture, indeed, of this fish are unparalleled 

 in the annals of fishing, fjr it can be taken neither with the rod nor the net. The would-be 

 captor has to wait patiently under favourable conditions on the seashore for the fish to come 



1 



t.^w^»-,^rfSi 





v^'f 





Phal, h Ptrct yl:hinden] 



SNOEK 



Thn fish IS also ktioii'ti as tin Biirraruda 



yCapt Town 



